Lemon-Spice (Holiday) Visiting Cake

Lisa@lisamarroquin.com    415-867-5358

Lemon-Spice (Holiday) Visiting Cake

  • YIELD10 servings
  • TIME1 hour 25 minutes

We discovered this recipe at the NY Times COOKING website and played around with making a “Holiday” version…  and it worked! The only adjustment to the original recipe was that we added fresh cranberries sprinkled on top before baking. The recipe is absolutely amazing as is, so feel free to try making it either way.  Whether you pack this cake as a gift or have it ready when visitors come to you, it is meant to be shared. It’s made for durability, travels well, and gets better after a day or two. The cake is easy to make. Adding warmed marmalade when it comes out of the oven is optional. The first time we made it without the marmalade and it was divine, the next time we went for marmalade and things got sticky good! Hope you enjoy this cake as much as we enjoyed sharing it with our guests at our gratitude event last night. If you were there, you know just how good this cake is! ~Cheers!

Original Recipe by DORIE GREENSPAN

INGREDIENTS

  •  Butter and flour for the pan
  • 1 ½ cups/190 grams all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 ¼ cups/250 grams sugar
  • 1 large (or 2 small) lemons
  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature
  • ½ cup/120 milliliters heavy cream, at room temperature
  • 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 5 ½ tablespoons/75 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • ⅓ cup marmalade, for glaze (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon water, for glaze (optional)

PREPARATION

  1. Center a rack in the oven, and heat it to 350. Butter an 8 1/2-inch loaf pan (Pyrex works well), dust with flour and tap out the excess. (For this cake, bakers’ spray isn’t as good as butter and flour.) Place on a baking sheet.
  2. Whisk the 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, cardamom, ginger, and salt together.
  3. Put the sugar in a large bowl, and grate the zest of the lemon(s) over the sugar. Squeeze the lemon(s) to produce 3 tablespoons juice, and set this aside. Using your fingers, rub the sugar and zest together until the mixture is moist and aromatic. One at a time, add the eggs, whisking well after each. Whisk in the juice, followed by the heavy cream. Still using the whisk, gently stir the dry ingredients into the batter in two additions. Stir the vanilla into the melted butter, and then gradually blend the butter into the batter. The batter will be thick and have a beautiful sheen. Scrape it into the loaf pan and sprinkle fresh cranberries on top.
  4. Bake for 70 to 75 minutes (if the cake looks as if it’s getting too dark too quickly, tent it loosely with foil) or until a tester inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer to a rack, let rest for 5 minutes and then carefully run a blunt knife between the sides of the cake and the pan. Invert onto the rack, and turn over. Glaze now, or cool to room temperature.
  5. For the glaze: Bring the marmalade and water to a boil. Brush the glaze over the top of the warm cake, and allow to it to set for 2 hours. The glaze will remain slightly tacky.
  6. When the cake is completely cool, wrap in plastic to store. If it’s glazed, wrap loosely on top.

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